Outhouse software group share tips and guidance on using software and technology to help business owners increase their productivity and revenue.

Though various CRM solutions overdo the bells and whistles in an initiative to entice consumers, the fact is that there is a couple of core attributes that have a lot of influence on your company. While analyzing your choices for CRM, concentrating on these attributes could stop you from being sidetracked by functions that, while fascinating and even appealing, will certainly stop your business from being able to perform what it’s really supposed to do.

According to Star Solutions CRM Software, the obstacles presented by existing economic and financial conditions are compelling businesses to review CRM products in a much more essential light. Enterprises desire a lot more from CRM applications, yet, they also want it to have less, streamlined functions. Businesses are also focused on a new goal: partnership optimizing.

While it is true that there is a vast number of CRM solutions available in the market, there’s only one that you need. In your search for your next customer relationships management software, make sure to look out for these key features:

Ease Of Integration And Simplicity

There is simply no use in paying for a piece of CRM technology if you can’t even get your employees to utilize it. With a software that has complicating features, instead of making things easier for your employees and / or your business, you’ll end up spending more time trying to figure out how it actually works.

Convenience, as well as ease of integration to your everyday routines, are essential features of the CRM software you’d choose. According to most businesses, CRMs with more complicated features, especially when it has those that you don’t need, the more it would cause employees to feel intimidated to use them.

Remote Access

There’s no use in finding a CRM solution that can only be accessed from the office. Data should be added to it, regardless of your location. This way, remote workers (if ever you have any), won’t be dumbed down and handicapped by another version of the CRM solution.

Mobile Access

While it is essential that you can access your CRM software from another computer device, every business owner should also look for a CRM software which allows you to access everything from a mobile device. This feature is important for those who are on the field at most times, such as field sales employees, who need to access their prospect’s contact information quickly. While it’s true that these details can be accessed from the office and saved locally on their phone, it’s not efficient, and it actually kills the reason for you to have a CRM software, right?

It’s not enough that you know what your data is. Reports can easily tell those, but every business should also understand where the data is coming from. This is an excellent way to analyze and help business owners analyze which campaigns worked, and which ones didn’t.

Campaign Management

A good CRM solution that your business needs should be able to allow you to work on your initial campaign, edit and manage workflow, build, do some testing, deploy and even enable you to measure those results. These constitute a powerful campaign management attribute, and every business should look for this when deciding on which solution works well for them.

Flexibility And Customization

Most successful businesses required a couple of amendments and changes in their system, and this is one of the reasons behind their success. If you want to be successful, you have to be flexible to changes – as these will help you customize and tailor-fit your business solutions to what your customer wants. Having that said, you have to find a CRM software that also offers the flexibility and customization features your business is looking for.

Lead Generation

Storing customer information and their statuses can significantly help the business, but it’s not enough. You also need a system in place to store information, and follow-up potential clients to help you close those sales.

Conclusion: Don’t be dazzled by all the “great” and “amazing” features most CRM solutions have. They may be initially attractive at first, but your buying decision shouldn’t be based on what’s attractive. Instead, it should be based on what your business needs.

It was just a few years ago when the concept of the cloud was the subject of numerous introductory articles. These days, the cloud is pretty much an accepted environment in which collaboration tools can operate for various people in real time. Now companies are using online collaboration tools much more frequently, and the demand is growing.

It’s undeniable that the email system has been quite effective in boosting effectiveness, but nowadays it’s also clear that email alone is lacking. In fact, it may even contribute to inefficiency.
Studies from AJAXWorkspace online collaboration workspace show that the average office worker checks their email 36 times a day, and spends more than 2 hours a day reading and responding to emails. After responding to an email, an office worker requires 10 to 15 minutes before they can focus back on their work.
About 96% of executives blame ineffective communication or lack of collaboration for failures in the workplace. The inability to use social technology makes employees almost 25% less effective. Almost 3 out of 5 middle managers overlook vital info every day because they don’t see it or never find it. And when team members use email, they can’t make simultaneous corrections and a lot of wasted time and effort.

How These Tools Help
There are many ways in which these tools help, but many have noticed significant improvements in how people work together online. Almost every business (97%) reports that they were able to help more clients and in a much more effective manner.
• 74% of companies say that by using social tools, they were able to gain faster access to the info they required.
• These tools also cause an increase of up to 20% in team efficiency according to the companies that use them.
• With social business tools, employees report a 39% increase in connectedness.
• With a document management tool in which real time edits can be made, company teams can draft documents 33% faster.

The O2 Case Study
These improvements not just perceived enhancements to the collaborative process. O2, a telecomm company, one held a work-at-home day in which workers used collaboration tools instead. About 365 of the workers reported that they felt more productive, but it’s more than just feelings. There were more concrete improvements.
• The company was able to use a thousand man-hours for work, which would have been used normally for commuting.
• The employees saved a total of £9,000 in commuting expenses.
• The use of electricity was reduced by 12%, and water use was reduced by 53%.
• There was even a 12.2 ton reduction in CO2 emissions.
In other words, company workers were more productive, and it’s even good for the environment.

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About

Greetings! I am Lori Elzy I am a software developer with a bachelor's in business information systems. I close to 10 years of experience in software development for 4 different companies, small, medium and large.